Do you need the highest possible frame rate to feel comfortable in a game? Maybe you’ll find the answer to which Xbox 120 Hertz games are waiting for you in our clear list and discover one or two titles that you haven’t come across yet. Do you want to know what this function can do? We explain the most important points in this matter.
These Xbox games offer you the 120 Hertz Boost
We particularly like these top 3 Xbox 120 Hertz games
Devil May Cry 5
With the Son of Sparda, you’ll put the fear of God into hell monsters and send the minions from the Abyss back to purgatory in Capcom’s well-known hack and slash franchise. In an almost artful way you shoot, hack and jump through the levels in search of red, blue and green orbs to improve your abilities and restore your life. Dante is definitely one of the coolest personalities in video game history. With a constant 120 frames per second, you’ll be able to enjoy the spectacle even more smoothly and experience the fast gameplay with the spectacular maneuvers of the charming demon hunter.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
A first-person shooter that really benefits from 120 frames per second. Especially on the Xbox Series X, you won’t have any problems with the high frame rate and can fully concentrate on the action of the Cold War shooter. In addition to the single-player campaign, where you’ll meet some characters from the Black Ops world, there’s an extensive online part with numerous game modes, such as a new 40-man multi-team mode that lets you compete in 10 groups of four players each. Of course, undead carnage in the form of a zombie mode is also not to be missed.
F1 2022
To finish first, you have to finish first! Of course, this also applies to the 2022 version of the official Formula 1 game from Codemasters. In return, you can once again rely on an increased frame rate in this version, which gives you a much smoother feel in tricky position duels and tough infield fights. However, you’ll have to do without a story mode like in the predecessor in this edition. Instead, you get the so-called F1 Life mode in which you can unlock various goodies such as overalls and super sports cars. The racing simulation also offers a new multiplayer co-op mode and a revised AI that adjusts better to your driving performance.
Xbox 120 Hertz games: Does the support make any difference?
The term Hertz is the so-called refresh rate of televisions and indicates how often the image content is rebuilt per second, in other words updated. In principle, the higher this value, the less blurring is visible. Reproduced content appears clearer overall and is perceived as more pleasant.
But be careful: It might not be possible to simply switch on the more pictures. Apart from an Xbox Series X or Series S, your TV or monitor must have a 120 hertz panel. If it doesn’t, you simply won’t be able to take advantage of the double frequency. Additionally, an HDMI 2.1 should be available to transfer content at 4K and with HDR.
If you want to learn more about the refresh rate, please visit our detailed service article in the knowledge section.
What is the difference of 120 hertz and 4K@120 hertz?
Generally, the mere support of 120 frames per second does not say anything about the resolution level. A game can be optimized for this frame rate, but it uses a lower resolution than the Xbox Series X or Playstation 5 could theoretically display.
This factor depends on the hardware on the one hand, and on the developer’s optimization of the game on the respective console on the other, and is ultimately limited by this. Without affecting the quality of textures and other parameters too much, studios therefore like to work with a reduced or alternatively a dynamic resolution to enable high FPS rates for Xbox 120 hertz games.
What does “dynamic resolution” mean in detail?
In contrast to a fixed rasterization, which is often specified by the developer, especially in consoles, the dynamic resolution – also called Dynamic Resolution Scaling or DRS – is not permanently fixed to a certain value. Instead, a minimum and maximum value is set during development – depending on the hardware – in which the image reproduction is allowed to move.
In addition, there is the possibility to influence the vertical side independently of the horizontal. This means that the total number of pixels can change on only one of the two lines. Since the change on the horizontal side should appear more inconspicuous to the viewer, this size is usually chosen for pixel reduction. To maintain the aspect ratio, the pixels in question are stretched accordingly. In addition, so-called anti-aliasing – a graphics technique for smoothing edges – can be used to soften unsightly image jaggies that are more noticeable at lower resolutions.
The advantage of this method: In particularly CPU-intensive areas of Xbox 120 Hertz games, a consistent frame rate can be achieved at the expense of resolution reduction. It also allows developers to leave out other image quality factors like shadows, textures or shaders.
The disadvantage: Depending on the hardware’s performance, the display can change several times within a few scenes, which can result in a visible loss of image quality in extreme cases. High textures or detailed shadows are only shown to their best advantage when the console is capable of sufficiently sharp resolutions. If you want to learn more about 4K resolution, you can visit our detailed knowledge article.
Xbox 120 Hertz Games: Turning on the feature on your Xbox Series X|S.
In order to be able to play titles at 120 frames per second, you have to meet certain requirements on the one hand, and on the other hand, you have to make certain settings. Most importantly: You need a TV that can display this frequency. If you are unsure whether this is the case, you can either take a look at the manual of your device, check the 4K TV details in the TV & display options of your Xbox, or take a look at our best tvs. You will quickly find what you are looking for in the datasheet under the Frequency entry.
Note: Sometimes manufacturers specify the native refresh rate with a maximum of 100 hertz. This has to do with our power grid. However, a TV that is labeled like this can also display 120 hertz without any problems. So don’t be confused by this identification.
If your device doesn’t support this feature, then feel free to check out our best gaming TVs if you’re thinking of upgrading. The connection from your console to the TV can also be a bottleneck. If the data rate of the HDMI cable is too low, the display will not work either. A cable with HDMI 2.1 standard is necessary at this point.
In the third step, we now turn to the concrete setting process to adjust the function for Xbox 120 hertz games. The quickest way to change the settings is to press the Xbox button on the “Profile & System” tab. Under the point Settings and general you will find the already mentioned “TV & display options“. Once there, select the 120 Hz option in the “Refresh Rate” entry.
The next step is to activate the FPS Boost per game from the game overview under “My Games & Apps“. To do this, select a title, press “Menu > Manage game & add-ons” and go to the so-called compatibility settings. Here you will find the item “Enable FPS Boost“. If you want to undo the setting, quit the game and uncheck the boxes again.
Note: If your resolution is lower than 4K, you will need to disable HDR beforehand for native HDR games that have been increased to 120 FPS. This feature is not available for backward compatible games.
A smooth display is important, but the sound reproduction should not take a back seat despite the performance of Xbox 120 hertz games. If you would like to improve this point in your setup, then stop by our buying guide on soundbarfindr. There, we will tell you what is important and what you really have to consider when buying.
